Augmented reality (AR) is an emergent technology that overlays virtual objects into the real environment. Lately, AR is gaining prominence in education because of its increasing affordability through computers or mobile technologies. In addition, research sustaining the benefits of AR to promote student’s engagement to learn is increasing every day. However, the literature identifies lack of studies about the use of AR in education, namely, studies focused on the development of AR games designed over specific learning objectives (game-based learning). This paper presents a mobile augmented reality platform with learning purposes. The platform includes a mobile application that consists of a location-based game targeted to promote learning about the universe. Furthermore, it includes a back-office that allows teachers to introduce information about celestial bodies and also develop a set of multiple-choice questions to assess student’s learning about the subject matters they teach. The mobile application provides the users with physical movement and social interaction in the real world, while playing the game and for this reason it is included in the pervasive games’ paradigm. Besides engaging the students to play the game, we argue that this platform may be used as a resource to be implemented in informal and formal learning environments.

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Remote monitoring of health parameters is a promising approach to improve the health condition and quality of life of particular groups of the population, which can also alleviate the current expenditure and demands of healthcare systems. The elderly, usually affected by chronic comorbidities, are a specific group of the population that can strongly benefit from telehealth technologies, allowing them to reach a more independent life, by living longer in their own homes. Usability of telehealth technologies and their acceptance by end-users are essential requirements for the success of telehealth implementation. Older people are resistant to new technologies or have difficulty in using them due to vision, hearing, sensory and cognition impairments. In this paper, we describe the implementation of an IoT-based telehealth solution designed specifically to address the elderly needs. The end-user interacts with a TV-set to record biometric parameters, and to receive warning and recommendations related to health and environmental sensor recordings. The familiarization of older people with the TV is expected to provide a more user-friendly interaction ensuring the effectiveness integration of the end-user in the overall telehealth solution.

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